


Mistakes and Grand Gestures

by watermelonriddles



Category: Four Brothers (2005)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 23:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watermelonriddles/pseuds/watermelonriddles
Summary: "Bobby ran back to the house as quickly as he could. He had royally fucked up this time and if anything happened to Jack there was no going back. Forget Ma never forgiving him, he’d probably never forgive himself. How could he? Jack was his responsibility and not only had he almost got the kid killed but then he went and lost him too."





	Mistakes and Grand Gestures

**Author's Note:**

> For the most part I used the actors ages/age gaps to work out the character ages (with some tweaking by taking away a year here and there). So for this fic: Jack is 13, Angel is 19, Jerry is 21, and Bobby is 25. 
> 
> Because there wasn’t a natural way to bring it up, Evelyn is out of town during this. Bobby has been in the process of moving out but has stuck around because of Jack and Jerry is already with Camille at this point.

Bobby ran back to the house as quickly as he could. He had royally fucked up this time and if anything happened to Jack there was no going back. Forget Ma never forgiving him, he’d probably never forgive himself. How could he? Jack was his responsibility and not only had he almost got the kid killed but then he went and lost him too.

The sun had set a little while ago now and it was only getting darker and darker. It was cold too and Jack only had on a thin jacket on so Bobby hoped that at the very least the cold would drive Jack home. He was on his street, almost at the house, when he spotted Jerry coming from the other direction.

“Have you guys seen Jack?” Bobby yelled.

Jerry shook his head and even from a distance, Bobby could see the concern all over his face. “Wasn’t he supposed to be with you?”

“I… He was,” Bobby said as Jerry jogged to reach him quicker.

“What’s this about Jack?” Angel asked. He had been leaning down by a car, talking to whoever was driving. The moment he heard Bobby yelling he came running.

“He wanted to know if we’ve seen him.”

The words were barely out of Jerry’s mouth as Bobby made it to the front door. He tried to open it but it was locked. With a deep breath he fumbled in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his house key. Just because it was locked didn’t mean Jack wasn’t home. He has his own set of keys so he could have come in the back door.

“Jack!” Bobby called out as he entered the house. “Jack, are you here? Please answer me!”

He’s already searching the entire house. For a moment, Jerry and Angel stood by the front door, a little in shock, before they moved upstairs to check each room. The two of them were just coming back out into the hall when Bobby came upstairs.

“He’s not in his room or mine,” Jerry said.

“He’s not in mine or the bathroom,” Angel added.

“Check Ma’s room,” Bobby said as he headed towards his own bedroom.

His stomach dropped when he opened the door and it was exactly as he had left it. He checked everywhere, even in the wardrobe and under the bed. Regardless of whether it was a space that Jack could fit into or not, Bobby checked it.

“The back door was locked too,” Jerry said from the doorway.

“Shit,” Bobby said as he kicked his bin across the room.

“What happened?” Angel asked, appearing beside Jerry.

“I… I fucked up, okay?” Bobby growled as he paced. “I yelled at him. He stepped out into the road and a car was coming. I basically had to tackle him to get him out of the way in time. The moment I was on my feet I was yelling at him. When I turned back to see if he was okay, he was gone.”

“Gone?” Jerry and Angel asked at the same time.

Bobby nodded. “I looked everywhere but I couldn’t find him. I thought he might have come back home.”

“Maybe he didn’t think to come back here,” Jerry pointed out. “He hasn’t exactly thought of home as a good place before.”

“I’m out of ideas,” Bobby admitted. “If anything happens to him I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“There’s got to be somewhere you haven’t check,” Angel said. “He’s only been to a few places. Did you check them all?”

“Yeah, I-“ Bobby cut himself off as he raced from the room. Angel and Jerry shared a look before following close behind him. “A few months back I took him to play some hockey. There were some other players down there but Jack chose to sit on the sideline so I never took him back after that. I forgot about it until now, never considered he would go there. He seemed to hate it.”

He and Angel went ahead as Jerry lagged behind just long enough to lock the house up behind them. Bobby never slowed down. When they finally got there, there was some relief when he noticed the lights of the court were still on and there were several people. He couldn’t be sure it was Jack but it was a slither of hope at least which was much more than he had before.

“There he is,” Angel said, pointing as they reached the fence.

Bobby stood there for a moment, gripping the chainlink fence with both hands. Suddenly a weight was lifted as if he had been struggling to breathe the entire time. He watched as Jack pushed a small ball around with a hockey stick. Tom, a guy from the neighbourhood that Bobby had played a few games with, was stood across from Jack with his own hockey stick.

“He’s good,” Jerry commented as he caught up.

Bobby watched the way Jack moved. It was so effortless. The way he used the stick, scoring without even trying, and how he moved like it was second nature. “Do you think he’d be good on the ice?”

“I think we need to give him a chance,” Angel said, watching Jack’s footwork and the way he twisted the stick to make a particularly good shot. “I think the kid has been holding out on us.”

This time Bobby finally moved. As he pushed the gate open and stepped inside, Tom noticed him. He said something to Jack before raising his hand in greeting. Bobby raised his own hand. Jack turned around, he put his head down a little.

When Bobby reached him the first thing he did was pull Jack into a hug. He held on so tightly, reveling in it for a moment before holding Jack at arm's length to look him over.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a little bruised I think,” Jack said.

Bobby pulled him in for another hug. “I’m sorry, Jack. If I was any closer I would have just pulled you out of the way but there was no time.”

“You saved my life.” As he said it, Jack wrapped his arms around Bobby’s waist and squeezed as hard as he could. “I’m really lucky you were there.”

At first, when they pulled apart Bobby couldn’t stop grinning but it soon faded. “When I realised you had run off… I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“I knew I’d disappointed you,” Jack said, looking down, grip tightening on the stick. “I know how much you love hockey and I just thought if I could make a couple of shots I could help you practice or something, make it up to you. Or at least let us do something that you enjoy.”

“Where did you even get a stick?” Bobby asked.

“Well, I didn’t know this was what I was going to do until I got here,” Jack admitted. “When I saw there were already people playing I thought I could at least borrow a stick.”

“Kid’s a natural,” Tom said. “I recognised him, knew he was a Mercer.”

“Thanks for looking out for him,” Jerry said, reaching out to shake Tom’s hand.

“It’s really no problem, he showed me a thing or two actually.”

Jack couldn’t help but smile. Bobby liked it when Jack smiled. He had been living with them for just over a year but he had never quite settled. It was rare that Jack really smiled so when he did, it felt like he was slowly settling into his new life and his new family.

“Guess the Mercer’s are gonna crush everyone in the neighbourhood, huh?” Bobby said, winking at Jack.

“I can play with you guys?” Jack said with a hopeful smile on his face.

“Any time you want,” Bobby said. “You are a Mercer after all.”

“Plus, we’re gonna kick some ass,” Angel said, grinning as he and Jerry high fives.

Jack grinned. “Mercer. Jack Mercer.”

“I think it sounds good,” Jerry said.

“So do I,” Jack said after a moment. “Is it official?”

“If you want it to be,” Bobby said as he motioned towards Jerry and Angel. “Ma let us all decide for ourselves. Just let her know and she’ll make sure it happens.”

“I’d like that,” he said, lifting the hockey stick up. “Can we play a little before we go home?”

“My boys have a couple of sticks they can lend you,” Tom said, motioning to where they stood. “We’ll take it turns, play against you guys.”

“Well then I’m in,” Bobby said to which Angel and Jerry nodded in agreement before making their way over to say hello to Tom’s friends. As they did, Bobby lagged behind and looked at Jack.“Why don’t we let some of the others warm up a little? You and I will play after, yeah?”

Jack nodded and handed his stick back to Tom. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “For the stick and a good game.”

Tom ruffled his hair a little and to Bobby’s surprise, he didn’t flinch once. “It’s always a pleasure to play against a Mercer.”

Tom put the stick over one shoulder and as he passed he bumped fists with Bobby. The latter led the way over towards the fence. When they got there, Jack refused to look at him.

“Listen, Jack, you don’t know how thrilled I am that you’re safe,” Bobby said. “I was going out of my mind with worry when I couldn’t find you, but you can’t run off like that again. I know I shouldn’t yell at you like that, it wasn’t really your fault, but I was just so scared when I saw that car coming. It came out as anger. The second I finished yelling all I felt was relief that you hadn’t been hit.”

Bobby was never exactly the person to set an example. He was hardly that serious and he was probably the first out the of the Mercer boys to start any sort of trouble, but this was Jack and he could have died tonight or at the very least, ended up in hospital with some serious injuries. So if Bobby was going to be an adult in any situation, it was going to be this one.

“I was upset,” Jack admitted. “That’s why I ran away initially because I was a little afraid, but when I was far enough away I realised that was stupid. I knew you really would be angry now that I had ran off so I just kept going and then I saw Tom and the others playing hockey and yeah… I’m really sorry.”

“You thought you’d find a way to make it up to me so I wouldn’t be so angry.” Bobby put his hands on Jack’s face so he had no choice but to look at him. “Listen to me, I will never ever lift a finger to hurt you, okay? And if anyone so much as raises their hand to you, you tell me? No one hurts you and gets away with it. I won’t let anyone touch you again. So please don’t be afraid of me.”

Jack nodded before placing his hands over Bobby’s. “I don’t think I’m really afraid of you. Deep down I know you won’t hurt me. Not like _they_ did. I am sorry I ran off like that”

Bobby had to close his eyes for a moment. He hated hearing about what had happened to Jack before he came to live with them. Jack had practically been a shell when he first arrived.

“It’s okay, I know how sorry you are,” Bobby finally said.

Sometimes I want to argue with you just like Angel and Jerry,” Jack said. “I want to get into fights and mess around.”

Bobby laughed as he let go of Jack. “You think you can take me, huh?”

“Easily,” Jack said, puffing out his chest before settling back into himself a little. “I’m trying to get used to the fact I can yell and argue and play fight and it won’t be serious. Maybe in the moment but not forever. There’s no real danger. I am trying.”

“Listen,” Bobby said as he ran a hand through his hair. “The first day I met you, you would only look at the floor. You avoided talking at all costs and the second you could, you went to your room and didn’t come back out for a really long time. I’ve seen you come out of your shell more and more over the last year or so. The first time you really smiled and didn’t automatically try to take it back, the first time you called her Ma, the first time you sat on the couch with me and didn’t leave as much space as possible between us, the first time you spoke first. The list goes on. I remember every single moment because I fell more in love with you each time and I knew more and more I would never let anyone hurt you ever again. So you don’t have to tell me you’re trying because I see it.”

Jack suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Bobby’s waist, hugging him as tight as possible. Bobby hugged him back. This was probably the most he and Jack had been physically close in such a short space of time, but after a few moments Bobby coughed and pulled away from him. As he looked up, Bobby held a finger up in front of Jack’s face.

“If you ever,” he said, lightly tapping Jack’s nose. “Tell anyone, and I mean _anyone_ , about how sappy I just got. I will eat all of your desserts for six months straight, you got it?” Jack imitated zipping his mouth shut. Bobby grinned and ruffled his hair up. “Good, now let’s go play some fucking hockey.”


End file.
